Relationship between Stock Market Prices and Macroeconomic Variables Essay

Relationship between Stock Market Prices and Macroeconomic Variables - Essay Example This is an indication that the indexes will rely majorly on the stock prices of the major companies in the capital market. Therefore most financial experts like relying on this index as it is closer to representing the real market. According to Madura (2008, pg 347), the index is calculated by considering the stock price of five hundred biggest companies in the market. It explains that the companies are selected based on their market capitalization. To understand this dynamic relation the relation between the stock price and the variables in the macro economy, a clear and incisive analysis of the effects of these variables on the financial markets is required. This paper examines some of the relationships between the stock prices and market indices and the variables of the macroeconomic environment within economies of countries like the United States and England. Â  The GDP of a nation covers all the products and services produced in a single financial year. In Berezina (2012) opinion, it covers the entire products, from the smallest item to the largest possible item and services purchased by the consumers in this economy. It notes that investors pay keen attention to indicators of sustainable growth in the GDP of an economy to make decisions on investment. When the report shows that there is growth in GDP, many investors will be attracted to the economy. This translates to higher stock prices as investors rush to acquire stakes in companies within these economies. In the absence of growth, the investor confidence is low and the stock prices are likely to slump. This is usually reflected in the performance of the index of the market. Analysts believe that the performance of a market over a financial year will reflect the overall performance in GDP. For instance, Madura (2008) explains that economic factors that affect the stock prices includ e indicators like GDP (Madura 2008, pg 270).

Connectionist modeling theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Connectionist modeling theory - Essay Example Connectionist theory has also been used to explain language. Connectionist theory is basically the process of seeing a connection between the input (perception) and the output (language) (McMurray 2000). The mental processes as explained above are a large part of the processes. Connectionist theory tries to understand how the brain or the neural network makes connections between the input and the output. Basically, it is connection the perceived data with the ideas that come out as output. Connectionist theory comes up with formulas that try to explain the process in creation of words, starting from the understanding of the stimulus, Linguistics has tried to come up with theories to understand language development. But it has largely ignored mental processes. Language is also connected to mental processes. What one thinks, that becomes language. Connectionist theory tries to explain how this process happens. Connections are made between the stimuli and the output. This evolves to how the mind reacts to word as well as objects. It also goes to how the various networks within the brain cause the connections to change – yet another part of the theory. Connectionist theory is thus very interesting in helping linguists map the mental processes in creating ideas. My proposed paper will study the connectionist theory and how it benefits in the study of linguistics. Aside from looking at the basic principles of connectionist theory, the proposed study will look for the most common patterns about how ideas become words using the connectionist perspective. Smith and Samuelson (2003) studied the dissimilarity between the two emergentist theories, connectionism and dynamic systems theory. Both the theories differ in the manner they study development. The authors in the study assert the differences between connectionist and dynamic systems approaches in terms of the basic elements of the paradigms, what they

Suicide Among the Elderly Around the Holidays Essay Example for Free

Suicide Among the Elderly Around the Holidays Essay Based on statistics, there is one elderly suicide committed every ninety minutes and this percentage relates to the age group of 65 years and above (National Mental Health Information Center). Suicide among the older people is growing rampantly. There are a number of reasons for committing suicide, and this ranges from depression to alcohol or substance abuse. This testimony becomes very helpful to not only Americans but to everyone in the world. Because of this testimonial, many are made aware of the truth or causes of why the elderly starts to think of taking their lives. Baby Boomer Care. (2007). â€Å"Why Do The Elderly Commit Suicide? † Retrieved June 5, 2010, http://www. babyboomercaretaker. com/senior-health/Why-do-the-Elderly-Commit-Suicide. html It has been accounted that statistically, there are more suicidal attempts and acts among the elderly than the teen and younger adults. Living in isolation, depression due to loss of a loved one, physical health, inability or difficulty to cope with crisis and stress are the usual causes and reasons our elderly perform suicidal attempts and actions. Having this information makes us wary and aware of the causes and reasons of such actions. â€Å"Elders who are at a high risk of suicide usually show certain behavioral and personality traits such as higher dependency, being overcome by an intense sense of helplessness and hopelessness, possess poor crisis management abilities, are extremely irritability, and demonstrate a certain degree of antisocial behavior (Baby Boomer Care). † Suicide Among the Elderly During the Holidays Lawson, W. (2003). â€Å"Holiday Suicide Myth. † Retrieved June 5, 2010, form http://www. psychologytoday. com/articles/200401/holiday-suicide-myth Although there have been many speculations and stories that most suicides happen during the holidays or winter season, this surmise is nothing but a hypothesis or a hunch and is considered as a myth. In fact, researchers and statistics express that suicidal acts and attempts of elders drops and declines during the holiday season. McIntosh, J. (2003). â€Å"Suicide and the Holidays: Myths and Facts† Retrieved June 5, 2010, form http://www. medicinenet. com/script/main/art. asp? articlekey=54647 Suicidal attempts are unlikely to happen during the winter season or Holidays. Old people take their lives on the basis of loneliness, stress of losing a love one, depression and isolation. During the holidays, people are surrounded by family, relatives and friends. This is a â€Å"season of giving. † And when we are surrounded and with friends and family, we are most able to socialize and express our feelings. In the case of the older people, ranging from 65 years and above, this is the time that they are unlikely to be left alone with their thoughts and memories of the past. Thus, suicide during the holidays a myth and an assumption. McIntosh, J. Phd (2008). â€Å"How to Help A Suicidal Older Men and Women. † Retrieved June 5, 2010, form http://www. healthyplace. com/depression/suicide/how-to-help-a-suicidal-older-men-and-women/menu-id-68/ â€Å"The causes of elderly suicide are treatable and suicide is preventable. Risk Factors for elderly suicide and how to help suicidal seniors (McIntosh, 2008). † Suicide among the elderly is a given fact and it is not a hypothetical topic to talk about, it really is happening at our present date. However, the reasons and causes of suicide may be treated and prevented. Old people who are suicidal usually experience pain, whether physical or emotional. They also may be feeling distressed and dissatisfied with their current life situations. There is a growing rate of 50 percent of suicidal actions from the older people. There is a way to help and prevent suicide from happening. If we look and pay much attention to the signs and symptoms we may be able to help these people from committing suicide. Nuys, D. V. PhD. (2009). â€Å"An Interview with Thomas Joiner, Ph. D. on Why People Commit Suicide. † Retrieved June 5, 2010, from http://www. mentalhelp. net/poc/view_doc. php? type=docid=29060 Suicide is a growing public health problem today. Suicide is one of the results and outcome of having mental disorders. Suicide is a common product of depression, stress and loneliness. Though this is a fact, this is controllable. Feeling and being depressed, stressed and lonely can always be managed. Having a positive mind and trying to be active in spite the old age will greatly help decrease the number of people committing suicide. Bibliography: Rosenberg, M. (1996). â€Å"Testimony on Suicide Among Older Americans. † Retrieved June 5, 2010, from http://www. hhs. gov/asl/testify/t960730a. html Baby Boomer Care. (2007). â€Å"Why Do The Elderly Commit Suicide? † Retrieved June 5, 2010,from http://www. babyboomercaretaker. com/senior-health/Why-do-the-Elderly-Commit-Suicide. html National Mental Health Information Center. (n. d. ) NATIONAL STRATEGY FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION Retrieved June 5, 2010, from http://mentalhealth. samhsa. gov/suicideprevention/elderly. asp Farberow N. L. (1961). â€Å"The Cry for Help. † Retrieved June 5, 2010, from http://www. questia. com/PM. qst? a=odocId=98403730 McIntosh, J. (2003). â€Å"Suicide and the Holidays: Myths and Facts† Retrieved June 5, 2010, form http://www. medicinenet. com/script/main/art. asp? articlekey=54647 McIntosh, J. Phd (2008). â€Å"How to Help A Suicidal Older Men and Women. † Retrieved June 5, 2010, form http://www. healthyplace. com/depression/suicide/how-to-help-a-suicidal-older-men-and-women/menu-id-68/

Impact of Emotions on Child Cognitive Processing

Impact of Emotions on Child Cognitive Processing Using research findings, critically discuss the impact emotions can have on children’s cognitive processing, social behaviour, and physical health. There are different impact emotions have on children’s cognitive processing, their social behaviour and how it affects children’s physical health. The critical discussion of this topic essay, will be centred on the events relating to children in grief for the passing of a parent, maltreated children, and also how parenting style can affect the emotional characteristics that are displayed by the children and from this angle relating it with two great influence on children cognitive psychologist. It is essential to recognise the factual significance of emotions before getting into the other impacts, emotions are part of everyday distinction, it is a complex feelings that range between happiness and sadness, which are also the feelings that follows most aspects of other emotional feelings (Barnes, 1995). But why must children’s emotion have any impact on their life’s and others? Why must it affect individual cognitive processing? Does it always have to affect positively or negatively on the self and others and are the emotions expressed acceptable? Piaget coined the stages of cognitive development on how children’s knowledge of the world grows and improves with age. According to Piaget, schema are in different categories of both sensory and physical activities, as children mature in age the developmental schema enables them to categorize and compare different items, this process improves over time, the outline has its strengths and limitations, it serves to devise how we remember. Through this process children can therefore change their thoughts into emotional feelings to their primary care provider. The scheme also enables sorting of items in the memory and through this process, we are then able to make decisions and hold natural processes on different environmental characteristics, although the schemata have its advantages but it is also determined by the quantity of information it can hold. It is obvious that Piaget considered environmental factors that sometimes changes how we recollect, in sight of this he came up with the adaptation-organization, which is the method that schema changes through when something happened in a child’s life. The stage of adaptation organisation is sensitive to ambiguity because he further complicated this stage by saying that children are not influenced by any external factors, but cognitive development is totally innate. Although Piaget’s theory had a great influence on modern developmental psychology, but to some extent it underestimated the full potential of children and what they are capable of doing. (Bee Boyd, 2010). Some emotions that are expressed strongly can be satisfactory depending on the circumstances for example, when a child loses a parent, the notions of loss naturally will cause an impingement on the child mental state, it sometimes have an impingement on their physical health and possibly affect how they socialize with other youngsters, but if this emotion are repressed it could manifest in different shapes, granting to the child bereavement case study conducted out by Worden (1996). There was a 6 years old girl who began to experience nightmares and high level of anxiety when her mother was diagnosed with cancer and even after the death of her mother the symptoms persisted, but her 3 years old brother and 13 years old sister did not experience such anxiety both before and after the death of their mother. In that respect are different views on when children gain the cognitive functions of grieve, according to Wolfenstein children develop the content to mourn or grieve from adolescence , while Bowlby suggested that children as young as 6months acquire the feelings as an adult. (Barnes, 1995). The case study shows individual differences in how the cognition reacts to different emotional issues and also support Bowlby’s suggestion that children as young as 6months acquire the feelings to grieve the same manner as an adult. (Parrott, 2001). Vygotsky’s theory is different from Piaget’s, Vygotsky refers to the cognitive process from social interaction aspect, according to him children learn from adult and other people that has a direct contact with them and through the relationship formed with other people they learn to experience how to socialize with other people. Through the guidance that children received from their parents they develop different skills and their zone of proximal development increases from the support and care received from their parents in order to acquire emotional stability, this is one major role out of many others, therefore the loss of that particular figure in a child’s developmental stage due to the sudden change of death will have its consequences on the child’s response in their cognitive development. Some strength of this theory is formed in the cognitive behavioural processes of a childs emotions and they are displayed through attention, retention, reproduction and motivation, he sees children talking to themselves has a way of learning to regulate both their emotions and behaviour and also it is a way of children developing problem solving skills. It is somehow hard to criticize this theory because it was not completed before Vygotsky died. (Bee Boyd, 2010). Male and female emotions operate with a different internal model, children mostly find it difficult to hide their emotions, for instance, when they are angry, they look miserable and through their facial expressions parent or the child’s caregiver can easily know that something is wrong and it is feasibly possible to describe what form of emotions that are displayed. But why can’t we always mask our emotions without other peoples awareness? Research findings has shown that the construction of emotions is universally and culturally similar, it is hard to separate emotions and cognition because the two processing influence each other, making it hard to isolate events of pure emotion and pure knowledge. Emotions alert individuals to be mindful of some very significant characteristics of the environment and provide directions for cognitive processing with the display of behaviour in certain ways that is conformed to the nature. (Lemerise Arsenio, 2000) On that point are some emotions related to shame and guilty conscience due to maltreatment from the health care provider, this feeling comes up due to distress to personal transgression. Guilty feelings in children could be affiliated with some specific behaviour this mostly is a shape of negative evaluation of emotional experience that are acquired from guilt, the individual will not realize that the problem is from themselves instead attention is primarily centred on what has taken place or what did not take place, it is severely important to look at the state of mind of a caregiver because it will deliver a substantial impact on the psychological evolution of the small fry. (Bee Boyd, 2010) The cognitive function of a child’s brain that deals with grieve is the Ego, it is the unconscious part that focus on the realness of the effect of a loss of a child’s parent. Kids as young as five years are vulnerable because they cannot fully understand the permanency of death, this is ascribable to the fact that their knowledge is not fully evolve in order to link up with the notions of loss (this statement contradicted what Bowlby suggested that children as young as six months can have the same impressions of heartache as an adult). (Worden, 1996) There are individual differences with the ability to understand other people’s emotion, the social development children and their social competence also have an impingement on their emotional knowledge of others. Children empathize with other people in different ways, it involves the consideration of their emotions and relating their feelings with other people’s emotional state, some children have very poor understanding of other people’s emotion, and perhaps the parental style of the caregiver might be accounted for the children’s lack of ability to understand other people’s emotion. (Bee Boyd, 2010). It is important for parents to create a positive impact in their children’s life, according to Samuelson (2012). The positive parental behaviours that are exhibited by the parents would be linked to the children’s attention and working memory and their inhibitory control this therefore means that the parental regulation of emotion would predict children’s executive functioning and there would be a better relationship and sympathy of other people’s emotion after controlling their own emotions. This construct is similar to Bandura’s theory with the Bobo doll experiment the main idea was to show how an aggressive behaviour can be modelled well by children, thus emotional behaviours that are exhibited by the parent of a child will be moulded by the small fry because of such children that is the normal style of behaviour, due to the children’s exposure to that type of emotions. So also some negative expressions of emotion that are exhibited by the parent can be disconcerting to the children, it frequently happens when children have been exposed to both positive and negative emotions in the same shape, this can thus prevent the child’s competency and developing problem solving skills. (Samuelson, Krueger, Wilson, 2012). It has been generally accepted that what determines social and emotional troubles in children are from some sort of temperament disturbance, according to Rutter and Caesar (1991). There are other underlying issues that contribute to behavioural difficulties, some of this behaviour are from language disorder, while others develop from different parenting style. It is important to point out that there is a general assumption that the beginning of problems in children are from their social and emotional development. Although parental attitudes and the distinctive preference for boys and girls emotions that are socially acceptable are deemed through the way children are responded to by their parents, which also would have a strong influence on their emotional behaviour, for example, if boys are taught to be tough and strong and encouraged that aggressive behaviours are masculine type of behaviour they will surely display more of such character and hide their emotions due to learned behav iour, while girls are taught to be gentle and calm so therefore girls are more flexible with how often they get emotional. Children learn through modelling they therefore will imitate the same learned behaviour displayed at home. (Ding Littleton, 2005) The research carried out by Berg-Nielsen et.al (2003). Revealed that there was a low parental involvement for boys in comparison to girls due to this lack of contact given to boys and lack of positive emotions displayed by their fathers when they are angry, by encouraging them to show their emotions and improve their self-awareness in order to enable them to be able to self-regulate their emotions. The reaction from the parent is otherwise due to the expectations from boys are different from girls thus there are riskier for boys to develop emotional behavioural disturbances. However, there are limitations to this research because it does not cut across different cultures. Nevertheless the environment that a child grows up will also have an impact on their emotional behaviour through the way they socially interact with others, for example parent that have a medical history of stress are always angry and depressed. This surely will affect the child’s growth in the appropriate wa y, there is a tendency for the child to develop an emotional imbalance, irritable temperament or mental health problems and possibly unable to regulate own behaviour, due to the type of attachment given to the child by the parents. (Ding Littleton, 2005). In conclusion, there are different theoretical approaches to emotion from the cognitive aspect of the social and behavioural aspect, there are some emotional display of behaviour that can be seen as acceptable, and for example when a child is grieving the loss of a parent. Across different cultures, children display similar emotions that suggests that a child’s cognitive processing have an impact on their emotions which are then exhibited in their behaviour, research findings have also shown that the environmental influences also have an effect on children, developmental stages, but the strongest influences are the type of parenting style, the type of attachment children received during childhood will determine how they deal with and regulate their emotions. And lastly children’s emotions also cause an impact on their health, for instance, if a child is constantly afraid it can lead to acute anxiety problems which mostly therefore becomes a mental health illness. References Barnes, P. (1995). Personal, Social and Emotional Development of children. Oxford: Blackwell. Bee, H., Boyd, D. (2010). The Developing Child (12th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education. Berg-Nielsen, T. S., Vika, A., Dahl, A. A. (2003). When adolescents disagree with their mothers: CBCL-YSR discrepancies related to marternal depression and adolescent self-esteem. Journal of Child Care, Health and Development, (29), 207-13. Ding, S., Littleton, K. (2005). Childrens Personal and Social Development. Oxford: Blackwell. Lemerise, E. A., Arsenio, W. F. (2000). An Integrated Model of Emotion Processes and Cognition in Social Information Processing. Journal of Child Development, (71), 107-118. Parrott, W. G. (2001). Emotions in Social Psychology. Philadelphia: Psychology Press. Rutter, M., Casaer, T., (eds). (1991). Biological Risk Factors for Psycho-social Disorders. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Samuelson, K. W., Krueger, C. E., Wilson, C. (2012). Relationship Between Marternal Emotion Regulation, Parenting and Childrens Executive Functioning in Families Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, (17), 3532. doi:DOI: 10.1177/0886260512445385 Worden, J. W. (1996). Children in Grieve: When a Parent Dies. New York: Guilford.

Reading, Writing and Children’s Literacy Essay -- Education, Language,

In order to assist children in their education, educators must have a vast knowledge of various text types and how children will learn most effectively the components of each text type as well as when and where to use them within society. As educators, we need to constantly be aware of how we can support students to use language in order to learn effectively. The purpose, structure and language features of all the various text types are essential components of an educators understanding of the subject in order for them to educate students. Halliday’s functional approach to language as well as a much broader understanding of the socio-cultural approach to language is crucial to take into consideration when planning programs to educate students about language and text types. The purpose of writing to socialise is to help writers maintain or improve relationships. It is frequently used to explain, advise, request and describe events, experiences and information important to the writer. Different text forms used to socialise include thank you notes, greeting cards, invitations, social sites, emails and letters. These forms of writing can be formal or informal in tone, depending on the relationship between the writer and the audience. This particular text type is used help to share information important to the writer, there may be an assumed knowledge of some of the content included and information is generally written as the writer would speak. The structure and language features of this particular text type vary greatly according to the purpose and audience, but generally each will contain first and second person pronouns, specific participants, questions or statements. Concise language is used as well as simple past tense re... ...ate fully in the society in which they live. Educators must ensure students have a deep understanding of writing as a social construct and provide students with opportunities to practice using language as a social tool so as they can express themselves with confidence. Works Cited Emmitt, M., Zbaracki, M., Komesaroff, L., Pollock, J. (2010). Language & learning: An introduction to teaching (5th ed.). South Melbourne VIC: Oxford university press. Steps professional development. (2005). First steps: Writing resource book (2nd ed.). Belmont WA: Author. Win Jan, L. (2009). Write ways: Modelling writing forms (3rd ed.). South Melbourne VIC: Oxford university press. Winch, G., & Ross Johnston, R., & March, P., & Ljungdahl, L., & Holliday, M. (2010). Literacy: Reading, writing and children’s literacy (4th ed.). South Melbourne VIC: Oxford university press.

Religion and New Age Movements

Using material from item A and elsewhere, assess the view that most people today see spirituality and religious belief as purely private and personal matters. In society today religion can be seen in two different ways, as a private and personal matter or something to share with your community.Some sociologists would argue that religion and spirituality is a private matter because of televangelism, which is where people watch their religions services on television or go on online churches in the comfort and privacy of their own home when we have free time but other sociologists argue that this does not mean that religion and spirituality is a private matter, but that we have to use televangelism due to the fact we live in a postmodern society which means society is constantly changing and causes us to lead hectic lifestyles.This also links in with vicarious religion, which is where a small group of people practice for the wider community. Another reason why sociologists would argue t hat religion and spirituality is a private matter is that there has been a large increase in new age movements, such as; horoscopes, tarot cards and Wicca. Which focus on individualistic beliefs and self-healing, increasing amounts of these springing up indicates that because we live in a postmodern society we are starting to focus on ourselves more meaning that our beliefs are becoming privatised.Other sociologists would argue against this by saying that they are not a true picture of our religious beliefs, and are in fact, just fads, which we can pick and choose whether, we believe in them and don’t necessarily believe in them throughout our whole lives. This is linked to spiritual shopping, which is where we pick and choose which parts of different religions we believe in. Our beliefs are not a set structure and we have personal choice in what we believe. Also, another reason why religion may have become privatised is because of industrialisation, which caused us to no lon ger live in small tightknit communities.Before industrialisation churches and other religious organisations were often the centre of small tightknit communities and also, there was social stigma attached to not going to church before industrialisation. Industrialisation caused people to go from living in extended families to living in small nuclear families so that they could move round and find work where it was available, This lead to more hectic lifestyles and less time for people to go to churches meaning that they had to practise privately.Because of this, industrialisation also therefore decreased the amount of social stigma around not attending church allowing people to choose whether they actually wanted to go or not. You could argue that this means that religion is now more pure because we chose what we believe and don’t just ‘believe’ so that we fit into the rest of society. On the other hand, other sociologists argue that there are still other religiou s people about that still live in tightknit communities such as Muslims.Muslims tend to use their religion as a form of cultural defence to protect their identity from scrutiny from outsiders of their religion. But other sociologists would argue that this is a Eurocentric argument because Muslims do not use their religion as a form of cultural defence outside of Europe, and the reason they do it here is because of how they are represented in the media and because people connect them with fundamentalist attacks that happen causing ‘islamaphobia,’ Which is the irrational fear of Islam.Structural differentiation has meant that religion has become more privitised because we now live in a multi-cultural society we now have more choice in what we believe in allowing us to ‘spiritual shop’ Lyon did a study called ‘Jesus in Disneyland’ believes that we have become religious consumers, meaning that me pick and choose what we believe from all the differe nt religions in the world. This has been made possible because of globalisation creating stronger links between different countries and allowing us to have access to multiple types of religions with all different norms and values.This gives us greater choice between what we believe in and what we don’t. There are many methodological problems with measuring whether religion has become privatized, on of these problems is that ‘ how do you measure how many religious organisations there are? ’ this is a problem because it is near impossible to count every single religious organisation in the world because of the amount of cults and sects that exist that not everybody may now about. Sociologists argue that there has been a decrease on the number of religious organisations, and therefore religious belief is decreasing, but they do not take into account that it may not be religious belief that is declining, but that lack of funding has meant that the religious beliefs c ould not remain forcing people into practise privately, Also, how do you define what a religious organisation is.Another problem with measuring whether religion has become privatised is that you can’t know what people are thinking, just because they don’t visit a religious organisation, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are not religious, they may just not have the time to visit the organisation so instead use things like televangelism to practise at home.Also, just because people don’t attend religious organisations often, Stark and Bainbridge believe that the decline in traditional religions has created a demand for newer religions, this includes new age movements that focus on private practice. They believe this is due to people being naturally religious and needing religion as a compensator during times of crisis. They think that people still turn to religion for rites of passage and in times of life crisis, so, when people feel their life is unst able and they need something to make them feel better.

Salmon essays

Salmon essays What species would travel over 2000 miles just to have young and then die? It has been said that anyone who has not seen a wild salmon has not seen what a fish should be. Salmon was the common name applied to fish characterized by an elongated body covered with small, rounded scales and a fleshy fin between the dorsal fin and tail. In this paper I will be discussing history of studying salmon, the life cycle, spawning and mating behaviors; which has much to do with the total reproduction of salmon. Salmon were studied earlier than some may think. Experiments were done by men that date back to the mid-1600s. These experiments involved catching salmon in fresh water, tagging them, and then catching them again when they return to the same place, around six months later. These experiments were doubtful and it was not until the beginning of the 1900s that proof was available that the salmon returned home. (Shearer) Although usually drab in color before the breeding season, which varies with the species, members of the salmon family develop bright hues at spawning time. The male, during this mating season, usually develops a hooked snout and a humped back. "In many diverse taxa, males of the same species often exhibit multiple mating strategies. One well-documented alternative male reproductive pattern is 'female mimicry,' whereby males assume a female-like morphology or mimic female behavior patterns. In some species males mimic both female morphology and behavior. We report here female mimicry in a reptile, the red-sided garter snake (Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis). This form of mimicry is unique in that it is expressed as a physiological feminization. Courting male red-sided garter snakes detect a female-specific pheromone and normally avoid courting other males. However, a small proportion of males release a pheromone that attracts other males, as though they were females. In the field, ma ting aggregations of 5...